Honk: Keep that hooch elsewhere

Q. I have several large bottles of liquor that have been opened. I would like to transport these bottles to a friend's house. Is there a legal way to do this? ï¿½ Will keeping them in my trunk while I am driving sober be enough, or can I still get ticketed for that?

– Christina Hoots, Orange

A. Adults must keep open containers of booze out of the passenger compartment, so tucking them into the trunk is fine. So is putting the stuff in the back bed of a truck, said Todd Kovaletz, a spokesman and officer for the California Highway Patrol at the Santa Ana headquarters.

Minors, well, you need an accompanying, qualifying adult to have any booze in a vehicle with you. So not only would open containers have to be out of the passenger compartment, you would need a qualifying adult, such as a parent, legal guardian or "responsible adult relative," to play chaperone to the hooch, according to state law. Never-opened liquor containers, with the qualifying adult, can be in the passenger compartment. Minors can deliver liquor for work in some scenarios.

Q. What happens to the good stuff that falls onto the freeways? On my commute along the 57 each day, I see almost-new ladders, paint cans, carpets, etc.

– Mario Luna, Anaheim

A. Honk loves nifty stats, so let's start with that. Street sweepers for Caltrans' Orange County division drove 12,168 miles last year to pick up 154 tons of sediment and debris from freeways and highways. An additional 3,397 cubic yards of trash were scooped up as well.

The CHP is often called to get big stuff like couches and ladders that tumble from vehicles. An officer performs a traffic break, hops out and drags the bulky item to the side of the road so Caltrans can collect it.

"Interesting items picked up include wallets, cash registers and movie scripts," said Gloria Roberts, a Caltrans spokeswoman for Orange County.

The agency's maintenance manual lays out in detail what can happen to the lost or discarded items. Most notably, the cleanup crew can keep absolutely nothing. If possible, the owner will be found. Eventually, owner-less items will meet such fates as being destroyed, donated to charity or handed over to the cops.

So if you lost something out there in the asphalt jungle, start by calling the local Caltrans office.